FENWICK FLYER: SLICK TRACKS AND SUMMER NATS

By Tommy Goudge (July 1, 2010) – Tom Huppunen and the #12c Best Western Cairn Croft Hotel Sprint Car team raced hard last Friday night at Ohsweken Speedway, and were rewarded with another top ten finish. This week they’ll be back at Ohsweken in defense of their 2009 Northern Summer Nationals triumph.

Tom started tenth in the twenty lap feature, and was up as high as sixth on lap seven.

“It was going ok at the beginning - up top in (turns) 3-4 and low in 1-2, but the top did go away,” says Tom.

Tom eventually faded back to tenth and finished right where he started. The finish was good enough to move Tom up to eighth in the season standings as he looks to bounce back from a rough start.

“The 21x passed me (for sixth) after I hit the only bump on the track in turn one and bounced out to the middle,” says Tom. “Then I got experimenting with different lines as I felt like we weren't going forwards anymore.”

Mike Ling and Dain Naida were both impressive on Friday night and showed how tough the competition is every week at Ohsweken.

“The 7x was on a mission and his crew had the car tuned for the slick track,” says Tom. “He just drove right around me and almost everyone else. Dain had a great run from the pole to win - he had the best car and has much more experience driving on slick tracks.”

Tom and the #12c team are busy getting ready to defend their Summer Nationals title this Friday, and got some advice from Sprint Car standout “The Cobra” Chuck Hebing.

“Since Friday, we've already been planning on changing our set-up for this upcoming weekend,” says Tom. “(We’re) expecting the track to be about the same for the A main (as it was last week). The Cobra has given us some advice - he was the fastest at the Nationals last fall on the slick track - as well as our friends at Maxim. I'm hoping we can find a solution to the slick track problem as we struggled last year with it as well.”

Tom and the #12c team would like to thank all their sponsors, friends, and partners for their support during the 2010 season, including Best Western Cairn Croft Hotel, NGK Spark Plugs, Cobra Motorhomes & Trailers, Five Star Racing Products, Excalibur Crossfit, OMNI Media, Jawzy Graphics, Kim Arndt Photography, Niagara Custom Powder Coating, Gaerte Engines, Maxim Racing Chassis, Mom's Videography, Colleen, Meghan, Andrew and Jimmy's Crew Service, MW Graphics and Outlaw R/C Motorsports.

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